Come and Go
by Ahn-Li Steffraini
Summary: AU - Things changed after Messaline. The Doctor survived the heart attack, but is now forced to accept 'retirement' on Earth with his brother, Braxiatel, acting in his stead.
1. Chapter 1

**Come and Go**

by Ahn-Li Steffraini

**Summary**: AU - Things changed after Messaline. The Doctor survived the heart attack, but is now forced to accept 'retirement' on Earth with his brother, Braxiatel, acting in his stead.

**Rating**: Teen - swearing.

**Characters**: Doctor Who - 10th Doctor, Martha, Donna, Braxiatel, plus one surprise cast member to be announced in this story.

SJA - Sarah Jane, sometimes K9

Torchwood - full cast

**Author's Note**: Immediately follows "Fear". The Doctor is "retired" on Earth and still recovering from his right-sided heart attack after "The Doctor's Daughter". To fill in the blanks - The Doctor had a right-sided heart attack brought on by stress after Messaline and the loss of Jenny. He collapsed outside of Martha's house right when he dropped her off. A "dream team" of xeno-medical experts from both UNIT and Torchwood saved his life, but it was discovered that he was forever weakened by the experience - meaning he likely couldn't travel in his usual way anymore. However, another Time Lord by the name of Braxiatel, coincidentally the Doctor's elder brother (literally!) was attracted by the time lines being messed up and traced it back to Earth and found the ailing Doctor. It was agreed, in the interest of preserving the Time Lines, that for now Braxiatel would help his brother at least once, and so he and Donna went to Shan Shen and so far haven't been heard from. Jack managed to talk the Doctor into a taking consultation position temporarily at Torchwood 3 to keep the Doctor from getting bored, as well as to make sure that the lead xeno-medical doctor, Owen Harper, was in close range while he recovered and to keep the Doctor safe from whatever chaos was coming...

**Spoilers**: Everything having to do with s4 of New Who, before CoE for Torchwood and not a clue on SJA as I've never actually seen that show.

**AU Note**: Everything after "_the Doctor's Daughter_" and "_Adrift_" for TW. This story takes place starting at "_Turn Left_" for DW (where Braxiatel left off with Donna in Fear) and we start with "_Fragments_" for TW.

**Extra Note for Good Measure**: Thank you to my beta, Chellus.

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><p><em><strong>This story is the now changed Time Lines.<strong>_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE<strong>

Gwen came in silently that morning. In fact, it was a habit all of them had picked up ever since they had managed to pick up one more alien to add to their growing collection. The only difference between this alien's 'collection' and the rest of them was that Jack tended to ask, nicely, for his help instead of keeping him prisoner. Gwen smiled as she peeked into the sleeping alien's room and came to a quick stop.

He was still asleep, and all she could see of him was his back underneath the blankets as he lay sleeping on his side, facing away from the office space. She could just barely hear the sound of soft rhythmic snores.

Weeks ago, their lives had been turned upside down when they had to turn their conference room into a hospital room for the ailing alien. It had, slowly and as the alien had recovered more and more, grown into a bit more like his private room and very limited workspace and office. Medical equipment for a heart patient still sat beside the bed, just in case, but had not been needed for the past few days when Owen, with a few other xeno-medical colleagues, had proclaimed the alien healthy enough to not require the equipment.

He wasn't healthy by far, and still spent most of his time sleeping, but at least now he wasn't attached to monitors and IV lines, although Owen still checked him over morning and night...

... Gwen silently closed the door more and went down to the office to start turning things on.

Gwen was sure, other than Owen, that she was the first here. Owen tended to stay here at night as well, ever since the alien known as the Doctor had been moved here from the Leadworth Medical Centre and not been cleared for even light duty or to be sent 'home' or in the least released from twenty four hour medical watch.

It seemed to be a slow process, he had already been in a hospital - if you included the time at Torchwood - for just over a month and was already chewing through the fifth week. The cog wheel cycled open, and then stayed that way as the lights came on. Gwen looked up as Jack walked in, using the catwalk to look in on his friend, but stepped back equally quickly, closing the second door completely before retracing his steps and coming to to Gwen. "Was he asleep when you got here?"

"Just got here a few moments myself," she answered quietly. "And he was snoring then."

"Well, he's still snoring," said Jack, with a smile. "Nearly nine o'clock in the morning. Will have to ask Owen..."

"Ask me what?" asked Owen as he came up from Autopsy.

"How well did the Doctor sleep last night?" asked Gwen.

"Solid - fell asleep while reading at around ten, hasn't moved except to roll over like a normal sleeping man since. Although... Jack, can I talk to you?" asked Owen, motioning him to follow the 'dead' medic into autopsy. Jack did, and when they were alone, Owen turned back around. "Did you know he has night terrors?"

"He has _what?_" exclaimed Jack, then with a startled look at his outburst he quieted after looking around, almost as if something would sweep in at the outburst. "No, I didn't. It never showed up in the hospital, did it?"

"No, but we've been backing off on the sedatives each night to wean him back to a normal sleeping pattern... what ever that is for him... and last night I was quite startled by screams and garbled commands in a language I've never heard before..." Owen turned on the recording, and Jack could hear his friend's voice shouting, sometimes clearly, what in tone sounded like orders, other times it would fall off and then come back like cries of pure torment, in the same language... Jack felt spooked and he could see the mirror of the same expression on Owen's face. "I'm guessing it's his native language... and it's pretty even if the sub-tonals and harmonics that his larynx can produce can't be produced by a human one. I would have written it off as possible withdrawal from the sedative and tranquillizers, but we've been careful to back it off slowly... and this seems like something else. Was he... was he a soldier?"

Jack took a breath, and then paced. Owen watched, his expression softening. "He was."

"He fought in a war, something called the Last Great Time War." Jack looked up and at the wall as if he could see through the wall and to the sleeping alien in question. "Those sound like flashbacks, even if I can't understand what's said, the meaning is easy enough to hear."

"Yeah, I figured it was something like that," said Owen with a bit of a sigh. "What the fuck do we do now? Like really? I'm no fucking psycho-analyst, especially not a xeno-psychologist. We can't let him keep doing that or he'll be back in the hospital again... in fact I have a feeling that had something to do with the heart attack in the first place."

Jack blew out a breath through his lips. "I had no idea... I mean... if you knew him before you'd never know but, at the same time I guess I should have known. Just because he's not human doesn't mean he's not..."

"A thinking, feeling living being?" asked Owen. "Yeah. We got Gwen to help us remember we're dealing with humans up there. Now we've got him to remind us that aliens are living and often sentient, with emotions and issues all their own. Big fucking surprise there. He fits right in!"

Jack glared at Owen and the medic blew out another breath. "Sorry. I keep my typical to myself with him around. He's like someone's grandfather, really, with the not being able to handle a few nasty words. Like it shocks his delicate sensibilities. I have to take moments away from him to blow off steam."

"Owen, he's a Time Lord. According to other races out there the Time Lords were a race full of stiff shirts as a culture, and to top it all off he's old. Real old... not really by his own race's standards for real old but getting there," explained Jack. "He is likely someone's grandfather... and you met Braxiatel..."

"Yeah, yeah, stiff shirt of stiffs. I get it."

"Another one of their race was Harold Saxon." Jack looked at Owen sideways, and watched as Owen sputtered in shock. "Now, he was eccentric, but remember now that you've seen three. Common among them all is?"

"Stiff shirts," answered Owen. "Arrogant stiff shirts, but point is taken."

"Be patient with him. Chances are that he won't remember having the dreams, especially now that he's had a few hours of restful, dreamless, sleep... or won't admit it."

* * *

><p>He rolled over from his side, to his back, blearily letting himself drift in that comfortable area between sleep and waking. His limbs felt leaden, as if under heavy blankets, as did his entire body. If he'd been more awake he would have been able to tell himself that it was because the muscles had completely relaxed, letting him flop limp and seemingly boneless in the paralysing embrace that came with sleep... the natural reflex so that one didn't act out dreams but instead could only lie still or do no more than twitch fingers aimlessly while the mind could literally be doing somersaults.<p>

The next leap his mind would have taken would have been to explain that sleepwalking occurred when this 'reflex' to shut down physical response was overridden instead.

But he wasn't quite awake. His synapses, normally faster than lightening, refused to fire or did so with half-hearted aimless twitches.

This suited him fine, really.

Again, had be been awake he could have quipped a quote by Newton, such as, "A body in motion tends to want to stay in motion whilst one at rest tends to want to remain at rest."

Apt.

If his mind or body felt like being clever. Which at the moment they did not.

He was resting, and wanted to stay that way, rebelling at the thought of waking. He was warm, comfortable... relaxed and carefree.

But his own mind was latching onto the increased activity outside his room. Torchwood was becoming active as people filtered in for the day and for work. He could already smell coffee, and while he preferred tea, the smell was heavenly.

The Doctor sighed deeply as his eyes flickered open as waking also brought awareness and conscious thought and the sense of self to the Time Lord. He rubbed his face and sat up, slowly stretching out the kinks and his joints crackled as he moaned through the stretch. He then stood up, slipping the slippers onto his feet and throwing the dressing robe over his shoulders before tying the robe closed. With a shuffle he walked to the door and opened it, wincing at the sudden brightness.

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><p>Toshiko Sato didn't know what made her look up from her computers, but when she did so she couldn't help but stare at the alien man at the top of the stairs in front of what had been... until he'd been brought in... the conference room but had then been made into his sickroom. It was literally the first time he'd stepped outside of it since being here, and therefore, except for when he had first came in and then he'd been asleep, the first time she'd ever laid eyes on the Doctor.<p>

He seemed to feel her stare and he blinked at her, then smiled a small smile. Tosh smiled back then waved to get Ianto's attention. Ianto then looked up and started, surprised. "Doctor!" he exclaimed. "Can I get you something to drink? Perhaps tea? Breakfast?"

"Tea would be wonderful, Mr. Jones," answered the Doctor. "Where's Jack?"

"Talking to Owen," answered Gwen. "I'll..."

"Don't bother, we heard," said Jack as he and Owen came from autopsy. "Doc... what do you think of Torchwood? Seeing as its your first time seeing the Hub..."

"Hmm... I like it better than the other I saw. This one seems more... I don't know... it feels more lived in. The other was too cold, lab like, for my tastes. Felt like a prison," answered the Doctor as he came down the stairs, one step at a time and with one hand cautiously on the rail.

He was clearly not too steady on his feet yet. Jack grasped his elbow and guided him to the nearby couch and helped him sit, a pillow behind his back and another one behind his head. The Doctor watched Jack fuss over him in amusement but, maybe because he didn't feel completely healthy or energetic yet, he didn't fight him over it. "Would you like tea, Doctor?" asked Ianto.

"Actually, no, I smelled coffee..."

"... No," Owen interjected. "He can have tea but absolutely no coffee. Not satisfied with your tests yet to let you have that."

The Doctor looked at Owen in shock but sighed, and said, "Tea it is. Milk, three sugar..."

Ianto looked over at Owen, who nodded his assent, then he back into autopsy. Ianto brought the Doctor his tea and the Doctor sipped it, smiled in appreciation, and then his stomach growled. Jack looked at him in surprise. "I just woke up," explained the Doctor, with a shrug.

"I'll go get him something," said Ianto. "Doctor... ah... what would you like?"

The Doctor shrugged and Owen, hearing that last bit, came up the stairs from Autopsy, looked over at the Doctor and said, "Nothing fried, no greasy crap..."

The Doctor closed his eyes with a sigh. "So much for bacon and eggs," said Ianto. "And no coffee."

"Does it even qualify as breakfast?" asked the Doctor rhetorically.

"I'll go and see if I can find something that does despite that," answered Ianto, smiling slightly.

Despite the reticence and dubious attitude, Jack had to admit that in his typical way the Doctor had overcome and won over his team. Ianto had been the most standoffish. The few who survived Canary Wharf had walked away from it with their own views as to what happened. Ianto had not come out of it unscathed - he had lost Lisa and the posh office he was used to. His life had come to a crashing halt. The man responsible, according to the official report, was none other than the Doctor. Yvonne Hartman's role wasn't underplayed, no, actually it served as a very solid warning as to why alien technology had to be treated with far more respect that it had been under her leadership.

Mind you, a certain space Titanic not crashing into Buckingham Palace had made the Queen decree that Torchwood would not actively pursue the Doctor... and he was no longer to be their 'enemy'. The new byline was that Queen Victoria, in her fear and ignorance - not that she was necessarily blamed for it as she dealt with it with what knowledge she had in the times she lived - had jumped the gun a bit in exiling him and calling him an enemy of Britain when it was so clear that long after her death he was far more Defender than enemy.

And so the Queen, this modern Queen, had decreed his "exile" over and that he be welcomed, properly, if still under the classified cloak of secrecy. To anyone's knowledge the Doctor and Queen had not met face to face nor so much as exchanged words by any other means.

It made Jack's life easier although the Doctor was still regarded with a bit of suspicion by the old guard of Torchwood.

Except at Torchwood Three where some of the 'old guard' had been won over completely by him. Oh sure, it helped that it was truly difficult to be threatened by someone who had for the past month and a half been all but practically on his deathbed, and was still quite ill and it showed. Sometimes Jack would watch the Doctor sleep and wonder if he'd ever bounce completely back or if this quiet, subdued and less-than-energetic Time Lord was the new normal.

And then Braxiatel, his elder brother, had shown up and stepped into the Doctor's shoes for him. Donna Noble, at the Doctor's prodding, had gone with him to parts unknown because both Time Lords had asserted that she needed to - a Fixed Point in time was in danger of breaking if she did not.

They had not heard from either Braxiatel or Donna since.

Jack was about to fall into a brood, but at that moment his office phone started ringing. With a sigh, Jack patted the Doctor's shoulder and he looked up from his conversation with Gwen with a bit of a nod.

* * *

><p>When the Doctor had called Shan Shen the universe's version of Chinatown, he had not been kidding. Braxiatel did not find this kind of place his idea of paradise, but Donna appeared to be enjoying it. Not for the first time he had to wonder if this Fixed Point that was supposed to happen here had more to do with her ability to shop non-stop.<p>

They wandered through the streets and she was more concerned with him. "Have you figured it out yet?"

"No..." he admitted, then shrugged off another merchant bound and determined to sell him yet another trinket. "It more or less has to do with you being here."

Donna turned to him. "Look, Space..."

"If you even think about calling me some half baked nickname I'll warn you that unlike my brother I won't tolerate it," he warned, his voice low. "I don't have the same patience he has for you humans."

She looked at him in surprise, her mouth forming an 'oh' of surprise, but the silence only lasted so long. "Well, I can see one thing you have in common with him."

"What is that?"

"You're both full of yourselves."

Braxiatel blinked. "What?"

"And you say that the exact same..."

"What?"

"See?"

Braxiatel shut his mouth, refusing to allow her the gratification of the third 'what' that he felt like exclaiming in indignation. He breathed while trying to get himself under control. This woman was beyond infuriating, and she was also regarding him, her eyes all but dancing, with more than a little bit of amusement. He let a breath go in a sigh. "I honestly do not see why he tolerates you in particular."

She lifted her brows, looked slightly hurt, but she hid it quickly before she turned and walked quickly into the throng, leaving him behind. He took another calming breath before moving to follow her but realized she had lost herself too quickly.

Swearing in Gallifreyan, Braxiatel idly wondered how he was going to explain to his brother how he had lost one of his human Companions.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

The Doctor woke from his nap abruptly. The Hub was silent and he was still on the same couch as he had unintentionally fallen asleep on. As he rubbed his chest absently, he took a few breaths. He knew his traveling days were pretty much up but he still felt the pang of regret. The TARDIS was right here, right where Jack had left it. So close but... he could feel the sudden backlash of a set of images and feelings, the equivalent of _Don't you dare!_ from the TARDIS. He grimaced.

"No intention of it," he answered in a whisper. "Where did everyone go?"

He was shown the vision of them packing up their gear and leaving the Hub.

"All of them?" he asked in surprise, and was further surprised when he looked up at the whiteboard.

Jack had written him a message saying that they had received a call out and so had gone. He had fallen asleep on the couch after breakfast and his tea, and no one wanted to disturb him. With a sigh, the Doctor leaned back on the couch.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with images and empathic patches of feelings.

_Pain/Fear/Fire/Smoke_

The Doctor blinked in alarm and looked at the TARDIS, thinking it was her. No, everything was fine but she had also picked up on the signal. "Brax?" asked the Doctor, both vocally and telepathically but Braxiatel's so very distant response was one of mere exasperation and frustration, not pain or fear.

Not his brother, not Donna. Not the TARDIS.

That left... he blinked in alarm as the Hub suddenly felt so very, very cold and lonely.

... Jack and his team.

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><p>Braxiatel was a bit surprised at his brother's query, and only allowed some of the frustration at the missing Donna situation show through. He had found Donna, quite by accident, and while she appeared introspective and quiet she was perfectly fine. The charlatan "fortune teller" and her strange beetle had been dealt with decisively. He hoped that it wasn't because of that.<p>

"Are you... ah... unharmed?" he asked finally as he led her to a chair and pushed her to sit in it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered as she looked up at him. "What happened?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he answered drily. "On my side of things you were being scanned; your mind invaded... almost like they were feeding off your time line... I am sorry if the manner of my dealing with such a threat was different than what my brother might have done."

She shook her head. "No, no, it's fine."

"But it is not, is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Finally he sighed and sat down across from her, and in an unusual show of compassion, he touched her hand. "Donna Noble, you are not fine. If my senses lead me correctly, and they often do, you are as far from fine as you can get."

"I can't remember it all. It was... like a dream only not like a dream," she answered, crinkling her brows. "I remember one thing, there was was this woman. A blonde. She helped me through it. Something was off about her. She knew things. It was like... like being with you and your brother."

Braxiatel blinked as some feeling he was not overly familiar with crept up his spine. "How so?"

"She was human, she assured me of that," said Donna as she looked up and then at him. "She told me to remember something, that the Doctor would understand."

"What was it?"

"Bad Wolf."

Braxiatel blinked. It meant literally nothing to him and he shrugged. "Perhaps to him," he answered, visibly relaxing. "I'll have to mention it to him when we get back."

"When are we?" she asked.

"Well, judging by the time lines, this was the Fixed Point you were meant not to miss."

"So... anytime..." she appeared a bit disappointed.

He sighed. "Indeed."

"Do we have to?"

He looked at her in surprise. "What? You cannot be serious. I don't do what my brother does. You would be bored with me."

"Boring actually sounds nice," she answered with a grin.

With a sigh, Braxiatel decided that perhaps she wasn't so unbearable after all. She had spirit. Even he had to admit that. She certainly wasn't stupid. She was no Romana, but for a human she was passable. "Very well, I will endeavor to find a place my brother would find suitably dull... and actually have it remain so. As it so happens I know just the place."

Braxiatel stood up and, in an old fashioned gesture, offered his arm to her. She took it and rose with him with only a raised eyebrow. Obviously his brother was remiss in his manners. That was something he would have to rectify while his ever annoying younger brother was convalescing and for once actually sitting still enough to listen to him. No matter. That was for later. He then remembered something, and with a smile to Donna, sent the necessary reassurance to his brother that all was well.

He didn't bother to listen for a response.

* * *

><p>Jack pulled himself out of the rubble of the building and looked around frantically. Rhys and Gwen were already there and pulling the others out. With a curse, Jack stood up and asked, "Are we all in one piece?"<p>

"Yeah, amazingly enough," answered a very subdued Owen, looking at Tosh and Gwen meaningfully.

"Good, let's get the hell out of here," said Jack as he led them out.

A beeping on his wrist alerted him and he brought up his Vortex Manipulator, now mostly useless thanks to a friend, but it still had its uses. One of them being the very advanced communications suite. There was a holographic image on it that made Jack's heart sink into his very shoes. First, because it was someone he had been searching for. Secondly because there was no way he should have been anywhere near this time period, or even this world.

It was his own brother Grey.

_What is with brothers crawling out of the woodwork?_ mused Jack darkly. _First the Doctor's brother, now mine_...

"Hello Jack, if you're getting this then it's message received and somehow you've managed to survive the little present I've left you." Jack knew this voice; it was John Hart. He found himself grinding his teeth at the former Time Agent's nonchalance. "It doesn't matter now. Just know that I've come to be very well aquainted with his young man here. Curious thing, brothers..."

"What have you done with him?" demanded Jack harshly and he saw his team look up in surprise.

"Oh, nothing yet... but perhaps you should be worried about what I'll do with you and your team. Start dancing, Jack. You've this bad habit of leaving your back door unlocked with nobody home. Never know who might visit or what might get left behind."

"Oh God, Jack, the Doctor is still there..." said Tosh in a quiet and shocked voice.

Thankfully that outburst wasn't picked up by the comm unit in the Vortex Manipulator. "I'll be in touch, Jack."

With that the hologram and the comm signal cut off. Jack turned to his team. "We need to get back to the Hub, right now. Gwen, call the Doctor see if..."

Gwen was already on the phone and Tosh was accessing her computers in the SUV. He heard Tosh's sigh of relief when she said, "He's fine... in fact, just woke up from his nap and likely a bit confused as to where we've all gone... and answering the phone... now Gwen..."

"Doctor? Oh thank God you're all right. Listen, did anyone enter the Hub while we were gone? I know... can you look around real quick and make sure there's nothing too out of place? You sensed us? How... no nevermind..."

"Gwen, he's looking around now..."

"Okay, the only clue we got was that an old enemy of Jack's... no time to explain. I don't think he had anything to do with you... Jack, did John Hart ever meet the Doctor or know of him?" asked Gwen.

"No, he was a Time Agent like me. Old partner."

"You heard that? Okay, he said that Jack had a bad habit of leaving his back door unlocked with nobody home. I take that to mean that if he came in he didn't see you so he didn't go as far as the offices or anything. Maybe the garage. Yes, it's critically important. He said that we'd never know who might visit or what they might leave behind."

"Gwen, he just stood straight, like ramrod straight..."

"I don't know, Doctor, but it might be. The garage level is..."

Jack grabbed the phone. "Never mind, Doc, get out of the Hub. Put something on fast, and just leave. Get in the TARDIS and take her to Martha or Sarah Jane. No, don't worry about us. We'll sort this. No, you listen. Please, just get out of there. You don't know Torchwood like we do. Hell, get into the Vortex and temporally hover there and when we get back, we'll call you back if you want to help out. But if it goes off... and it has nothing to do with you... I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt over it."

"Jack, he's in the TARDIS and the TARDIS is... wow... that was... well... it's just gone." Tosh turned to him. "How did it do that?"

"Thank you, Doctor," whispered Jack into the phone as he closed it and handed it back to Gwen. "Everyone, back to the Hub... now."

* * *

><p>The drive back was a tense one, and once in the garage, they wasted no time in searching the garage before sweeping the entire area. Tosh shook her head. "False alarm."<p>

Jack picked up his cell and dialled it. "You can come back now."

A wheezing sound unlike anything any of them had ever heard filled the Hub as the TARDIS simply faded back into existence. It was like it had never left. The double doors opened and the Doctor, a bathrobe covering his pyjamas and a pair of slippers on his feet, came out with a somber expression. "What the hell was that about?" he asked immediately.

"Long story," answered Jack. "The Hub is clear. It was thankfully a false alarm. Meant to shake us... and it worked. Should have known. The garage was as locked as it always is, and the only other ways in would have taken him right past you. I'd hate to say it... but the Hub isn't secure anymore."

The Doctor blew out a breath in exasperation. "No where ever is. Well... maybe I can help fix that."

"No heavy lifting," barked Owen. "No full duty work. You haven't been cleared yet and you know it."

"I didn't mean that way... I meant for as... say... a consultant? I'll take a look around and suggest ways to improve the weak areas. It'll be up to you to fix them," answered the Doctor, slightly defensive, which made it clear he _had_ been thinking of involving himself a bit more directly than merely consulting.

This earned him a glare from Owen who saw right through the innocent act, but Owen nodded. "Fine, I can allow that, but only four hours a day with plenty of breaks. And in between you still need to rest. So, not four consecutive hours. An hour of consulting, then you take a break for an hour... and so on... get me?"

The Doctor nodded and held up his right hand. "Scouts honour. I swear I'll not do more than you clear me for."

"Great, start tomorrow." Jack led the Doctor back up to his room.

"But, but... you said that the breach was affecting how secure the Hub is..." cajoled the Doctor. "You need this done. Let me at least get a start on it. Maybe draw up a plan of attack for myself."

Rhys watched the alien be led up the stairs to the conference room that was now a sick room. He looked at Gwen. "Who was that?"

"Oh, he's... ah... classified," answered Gwen. "We know him as the Doctor."

"The same Doctor the PM called for at Christmas when that asteroid ship full of aliens that somehow managed to almost make a third of the planet jump off their roofs?" asked Rhys in surprise, and was surprised when Gwen nodded. "I expected something different."

"So did we all," pointed out Ianto as he walked by.

* * *

><p>"Jack, listen to me," started the Doctor. "I know and I understand why you want me to take a rest and all, but you said this was a matter of life and death. You literally just told me to leave because of this. There isn't any time to waste over it."<p>

Jack sat the Doctor down on the edge of his own bed and sighed. "I know. But first let Owen check you over. Everytime, and I mean everytime, you have traveled by car or helo you've ended up weak, sleepy and sick again. It's like you relapse with the stress of being moved. And now I just made you move yourself and come back. And I know how you pilot the TARDIS. You run around in it and I could see the beads of sweat on your forehead from across the room which means in a few minutes you're going to..."

He wasn't surprised when the Doctor's eyes went a bit glassy and dull, and then he went pale. "Jack... I'm not feeling too good..."

"... crash, like I said. You don't travel well when you're this sick." Jack sighed as Owen came in and they helped the alien lay back down on his bed. "Just give yourself a bit of time. Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow."

"... you think I'll take that long to bounce back?" murmured the Doctor as he rested his head in his pillows. "Maybe. Maybe not."

With that the Doctor fell asleep as Owen checked him over and Jack covered the sleeping man with his blankets. The two men left his room, turning down the lights as they did so. Owen sighed. "He'll likely sleep all night."

Rhys looked up at them. "What was that about?"

"Nothing Rhys. Take Gwen out for a night on the town, will ya?" said Jack, only half asking. "She needs the break from here."

"Yeah, sure," answered Rhys, a bit uncertainly.

* * *

><p>Braxiatel was true to his word when it came to finding dull planets. In fact, unlike his younger brother, he rather enjoyed less adventurous ways to pass his time. He was more academic and introspective than the Doctor which meant his TARDIS avoided places that were chaotic, even if he otherwise tried to go to them. It simply missed the time period.<p>

Donna found herself suspecting the nice, quiet respite was about to go sideways at any point. When it didn't she finally started to allow herself to relax into the lazy atmosphere of the planet.

Braxiatel was off to the side, and while he appeared to be relaxed, she could tell that he never actually did. He was constantly thinking. Planning. Looking for some angle on something. Donna knew the type.

She might have missed it in Lance but now that she knew what to look for she could see it in Braxiatel. He was not in this for any other reason that he was going to get something out of it for himself in the end. Something he wanted... but Donna had no idea what it was or what he would possibly desire.

Finally, once he proclaimed, "All right, I believe we have spent enough time here," she believed she might have figured it out.

Braxiatel was a thief. She could see it in the way he watched things, not people. It was the possessions that fascinated him. But not just anything. Expensive things, such as jewels, money, or other currency held no draw to him. It was the rare things and the odd things. Items that might not have worth anything if someone were to buy them, but she had heard things about Professor Irving Braxiatel and the Braxiatel Collection. It was always odd that his collection had the rare, the strange and the priceless but somehow had never been stolen or destroyed. Like someone who went back in time (because he likely had) to a time when the artist was poor and unknown and bought a few of the more famous paintings and then went back to the future when such things were priceless.

It was stealing without stealing.

And the Braxiatel Collection was full of such items - and the worst part that that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Braxiatel also had a tendency of having items that should have been, by all rights, destroyed in unfortunate and tragic circumstances. Fires that swept through museums and destroyed everything else but this one priceless item that was safely in his Collection...

Donna could read that writing on the wall.

Braxiatel was a collector of things that should not exist.

That was his weak point. It was strange. Braxiatel spent every waking hour, and perhaps those hours where he actually slept, trying to maintain how different he was from the Doctor. Irony was they were cut of the same cloth. Hardly surprising since the Doctor and Braxiatel were brothers. The Doctor spent his time collecting adventures and memories of places and times. Braxiatel spent his time collecting the things that marked the same thing his brother did.

The Doctor existed to collect the intangible while his brother the tangible.

Perhaps the biggest difference was the approach. Braxiatel bled Time Lord tradition if cut. The Doctor didn't. Braxiatel had chased after titles, honours and placement on Gallifrey and the Doctor had run from it.

But, to Donna, all she could see was how much the same they were.

All that remained was to figure out what misadventure Braxiatel had decided to find here and, if he was anything like his brother, it would shortly involve running.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Jack Harkness and his team were still on edge after how close they had all come to death the previous day. The hurried from duty to duty as the Doctor helped them close up the last of the potential breaches. John Hart would not find getting into the Hub near as easy as he had the day before.

The Doctor had lent Jack his sonic screwdriver and let him do the running for him.

"It says 2434556," said Jack finally as he walked up to the Doctor, who was again sitting on the couch.

Like the day before he looked tired after only a few moments of moving around. He was also not steady on his feet. Unlike the previous day when he had not even bothered with dressing he had insisted on wearing proper clothing instead of his jim jams and bathrobe. However, Owen had weighed in and said no suit, no tie. No 'confining' clothing that way if the Doctor needed a rest during the day he could and the clothing would be comfortable for sleeping as well.

The Doctor didn't look like himself without the suit. He looked closer to his ninth incarnation – the one previous to this current one – in simple dark tan cargo pants and a loose cream coloured long sleeved jumper. His hair was not gelled into the gravity defying style he liked to tease it into but instead laid flat and combed back in a simple hair style. His bangs had the, to him, annoying tendency to flop into his eyes.

Jack didn't want to tell him it was like a look into the future. A few weeks back he had run into another Doctor that had favoured bow ties and tweed. He had looked younger on the outside but the eyes had told a different story. That had been confirmed when Rory Williams, this particular Doctor's nurse from Leadworth, had suddenly ran around the corner and saw Jack, sliding to a stop nervously. Rory looked a few years older... more than a few and Jack knew for a certain that it had only been a few weeks since he last laid eyes on him.

The ginger woman in a really short skirt must have been the girlfriend he had been always going on about.

But that was then and this was now.

And this Doctor, this incarnation... an equally tall man if thinner and with less of an unfortunately prominent chin... who looked older than the next incarnation but was actually younger... his hair currently looked closer to the next incarnation.

The Doctor looked up at Jack suspiciously. "What?"

Jack shook his head. "It's nothing. Just really relieved to see you up and about more than you were."

The Doctor looked doubtful, but let it slide. He turned his attention back to the sonic and was lost in thought. "Right, according to this there is a slight draft from that area which means there is a weak spot in the very wall. Something you should look into."

Jack looked over at Tosh who took note of the scanned readings when the Doctor uploaded them. "All right, that is the last of them. Has there been any word from my brother and Donna?"

Tosh shook her head, and the Doctor sighed heavily. "It's not like him."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack.

"Brax is the type that keeps to a schedule. I seriously think his toenails grow to a set time line and are trimmed on a schedule. He said he would keep in contact and for him that means regular reports that you literally could set your watch to," answered the Doctor. "His tendency to organize and regiment things is..."

"... The complete polar opposite to your habits," finished Ianto as he brought the Time Lord tea.

Jack lifted a brow at the Welshman's cheek particularly to the Doctor but the Doctor only grinned. "Well... I wouldn't go that far."

The Doctor sipped his tea, and let the team run around and fix up the Hub. The work would take a few days to complete but at least now they had started it. With a tired sigh he leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. The TARDIS brushed his mind soothingly, but made no effort to sink him into a mid-afternoon nap. In truth she didn't need to and he could easily admit to himself that he wanted to nap. Someone, likely Ianto, took the precariously perched tea cup out of his almost nerveless hands and eased him sideways so that he was laying on his side on the couch and lifted his legs into the other half of the couch. "Thanks," he murmured sleepily.

The answer confirmed his suspicions as Ianto threw a quilt over him and answered, "You're welcome, Doctor."

When he woke again he was laying towards the back of the couch, head on a pillow and curled up. However, it was a not a peaceful awakening. "Wake up!" yelled an unfamiliar voice and the Doctor found himself dumped unceremoniously onto the ground.

He blinked up at the blonde stranger who looked as chronologically confused as Jack clothing wise in confusion, rubbing the right side of his chest as he did so. "Who are you?" he asked, knowing that this man was not one of Jack's people.

"I might ask you the same question," answered the man. "You weren't here the last time I came to play with 'Jack' and his precious Torchwood. And you aren't running around Cardiff with the rest of them... are you even part of Torchwood?"

The Doctor snorted, but maintained the illusion of being half-asleep. In reality, he had already caught on to a few things. One, this man had clearly put invisible quotations around Jack's name, meaning he knew that Jack Harkness wasn't actually Jack's real name. Two, he wasn't part of Torchwood and the way he worded things meant a possible adversary of Jack. Putting the two together – plus the third clue that he looked like he had stepped out of a bad pirate movie – meant he was likely a Time Agent and one of Jack's former working partners from that time. "Well, no..." answered the Doctor. "I'm not."

"Really?" the man seemed surprised. "Then why are you sleeping on their couch? Unless you're the invalid they're taking care of. The sensors up in what used to be their conference room is set up for someone decidedly not human but clearly needing medical attention... that means you're an alien, not their prisoner but also out of action due to some injury or illness. I wonder where they dug you up..."

"Dug me up?" the Doctor asked, and then laughed. "Ah no."

"So... I'm familiar with quite a few of the species around the universe." The man scanned him with a Vortex Manipulator, confirming his affiliation. "Two hearts, one is showing signs of healing from a heart attack... ouch... tough luck as well as... wow, you're certainly not human. What are you? What planet is your home world?"

"Was. Was my home world. It no longer exists – was destroyed in a war," corrected the Doctor. "And to answer your question I'm a Time Lord, my home planet was Gallifrey and you can call me the Doctor."

The man froze. "That's not possible. The Time Lords are a myth. They don't exist... they couldn't have existed."

The Doctor threw up his hands. "Surprise! My existence proves that at one point we did and I'm one of the last of them." The Doctor leaned back on the front of the couch, leaning his arm on the seat cushions. "Your turn. You know who I am and what I am. Who and what are you?"

The man swallowed as if not sure how to proceed. "John Hart, formerly of the Time Agency."

"I get the feeling you call yourself John Hart the same way Jack calls himself Jack Harkness." The Doctor watched the man react and waved it off. "Not my place to judge. I go around the universe calling myself the Doctor. We all have names we tell people while we hold who we really are close to our hearts."

"Heart."

"In your case, maybe, in mine it's plural."

John snorted at this and then looked at him sideways. "I can see why Jack keeps you around... other than plainly you needed Torchwood's help health wise. Sort of like having a childhood story kicked out from under you... you're not well, I can see that without the scanners on this thing." He lifted his vortex manipulator again. "We used to think the Time Lords were like Gods. But it's plain that you're mortal like the rest of us. Anyway... you're eye candy like his Welshman."

"Not interested," answered the Doctor quickly turning his head aside when John tried to swoop in to kiss him and John stepped back, the frustration plain. "If you think I'll let you do what I don't even let Jack do, you've another thing coming."

John's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You've refused Jack?!"

"Is that a surprise?"

"I didn't think anyone _could_ refuse Jack." John leaned back on his heels in thought but the Doctor could see the respect growing in his eyes. "Hat's off to you, buddy."

John walked down to near Tosh's computers and the TARDIS tucked away in the corner and picked up two machine guns, aiming one squarely at the Doctor's chest and the other at the cog wheel door. "Unfortunately, if you can't be drugged... I wear drugged lip balm by the way... you're in the way. It was nice to be able to say I met a Time Lord before they were all extinct."

"Now, wait just a minute..." the Doctor said, holding up his hand. "There's something I forgot to tell you..."

"What's that?"

"My TARDIS is right behind you and she doesn't like it when my life is threatened."

John turned around and finally took notice of the blue police box that he couldn't believe, considering the size of it, he had not noticed before. He blinked in surprise and turned as the cog wheels opened, taking aim at the Doctor and also at Jack. "Hello, Jack, I'm sorry for this and I do love you you know."

He pulled the trigger. Moments later he found himself on the ground, the guns on the others side of the room and a very angry Jack Harkness standing over him. "What the bloody hell happened?" asked John.

"The TARDIS froze you in time and then knocked you senseless. What did you expect? You were standing exactly where she could reach you – not that there isn't a place in the Hub where she couldn't if she really wanted to – and you were aiming a gun at her Time Lord. She's not very happy with you, and come to think of it, neither am I," answered Jack.

John took a moment to soak this in and realized that meant the ship was alive and sentient. The very idea shook him to the very core. "I'm not dead."

"Of which I'm surprised. She's killed people before for what you tried to do," came the Doctor's voice from behind him.

John looked up and saw that the ship's doors were open. What he saw was impossible. "Bigger on the inside," he stated flatly, too shocked for anything else as he rolled over and leaned on the doors to look inside. "Oh my God..."

John stood up and ran around the ship, touching it to make sure it wasn't an illusion before standing in front of the doors again and looking inside, past where the Doctor was actually standing to the side and out of his way to allow him to even walk inside if he wanted to. His feet did so, almost of their own volition. "It's bigger... on the inside." John turned to Jack, who had followed him in, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. "It's really, really bigger on the inside." He let go of Jack and slid down the side of the console room wall. "Oh my God, it's really a TARDIS and he's really, really a Time Lord..."

"How come you didn't react like this when I picked you up?" asked the Doctor of Jack.

"I was still in shock over living," answered Jack, with a shrug. "The whole world saving thing had already shocked me past reacting. I didn't fall apart like he did until I was in the privacy of my own room and in bed."

"You travelled with him?!" John looked at Jack in shock. "Is he why you can't die?"

"Uh, yes and no," answered the Doctor.

John covered his head with his hands. "This is going to take me a minute to soak in."

"Still doesn't answer why she spared him..." mused Jack, and then they both watched as the Doctor closed his eyes as if in conference with someone.

Jack knew that he was, and John stage whispered, "Is he talking to his ship?"

"The TARDIS? Yes," answered Jack.

"Jack, I have to kill you. I have no way to explain this but you have to believe me..." John said. "I can't believe I haven't been zapped yet..."

"He's being controlled through the vortex manipulator. Every word is being monitored. He isn't doing this by choice," said the Doctor as he opened his eyes. "In answer to your question, John, the TARDIS hasn't exactly released the Time Lock around the Hub. In other words we can move around and talk but in all essence the world around us is frozen in time. Or we're outside of it. Whichever explanation you prefer."

John thought for a long moment about this and Jack turned somber. "All right. I'll play along but we have to come up with a reason of why he either missed you..."

"I'm a Time Lord, I ducked."

John and Jack looked at him in long suffering patience, and Jack pointed out, "Or he grazed you."

"Or I managed to drug him," suggested John as he peeled the a clear layer off his lips and then rubbed them. "Had to just kiss the Time Lord to be able to say I did so, whether or not he'd refused me, to do something the great Jack Harkness had never been able to do and the drugged lip balm knocked him unconscious. No one needs know but us that he's only acting to be out cold. We bounce out, deed done, he gets up and warns the rest of your merry band and Grey gets a surprise and a half when gets here later."

Jack froze at the mention of his brother. "He's not another hostage?"

"No, Jack, I think it best you know that now versus later. I'll let him explain why but at least you won't be completely surprised when you wake up again."

They walked back out of the TARDIS and the Doctor locked the doors again behind him. "All right, places everyone..." he walked back around the bullets, frozen in the air and moved out of their way, but back generally where he had been, so that it appeared like he had moved out of their way too quickly to be hit.

"Crap," he noticed as he saw a few of them would still hit him, although thankfully not anywhere lethal. "I don't think you'll need to kiss me after all. I'm not going to be able to help you Jack, I'm sorry. The one that hits me isn't going to kill me – even in my current condition – but I'm not going to be able to bounce up and run over to help you."

Jack and John inspected the angle of the hit and Jack sighed. "That's going to hurt like hell."

"Yeah," said the Doctor, with a heavy sigh.

Jack walked back to the cog doors and it was clear that he couldn't dodge out of them at all. "Those are going to shred you," John said regretfully as he picked up the guns again and held them sadly. "For what it's worth, both of you, I'm sorry about this."

Time restarted and Jack fell to the ground as the bullets tore through his body. He didn't have time to scream before he fell to the ground stone dead. The Doctor still tried to lay flat enough to dodge the last bullet but a scream tore itself from his throat as the one stray bullet still managed to take him in the upper arm. The burning was excruciating and he could tell the bullet was still in there as he clutched it to stem the bleeding, feeling too light headed to do anything else but writhe on the floor with the pain.

John took a breath, horrified at what he had just finished to two friends. He turned to the ship sadly and he could feel a sudden warm, a strength fill him, and he took a deep breath and ran over to the Doctor to ease him flat on the floor. "For what it's worth, Time Lord, I'm sorry about this. Utterly amazed you moved quick enough to avoid death – so let me do this one thing." John bound the bleeding arm and with a gasp the Doctor passed out from the sudden sharp increase in pain. "Sorry, Doctor."

He then walked over to Jack and kicked the dead body over to look at Jack as he stared lifelessly up at the ceiling before he, and the dead Jack, vanished in a flash of light.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Yeah, the first upload of this chapter wasn't complete. It is now... I was wondering why the word count was so off.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

Gwen ran down the stairs and through the open cog door to come to a sudden halt. Her heart beat a swift staccato as she brought her gun up and then jumped sideways for cover. There was nothing firing at her, but she didn't want to end up dead simply because she walked through the door instead of taking cover. She ducked in quickly, checking the hub over.

Still nothing.

Which, considering there was the Doctor – and she looked at the TARDIS to confirm it was still where she remembered it being, and it was indeed – here there should have been something to indicate he was here. She looked up by the couch where they had all left him sleeping and noticed that there was a...

"Oh no, Doctor!" Gwen exclaimed as she ran the rest of the way to roll the obviously wounded Time Lord over.

"Gwen..." he whispered.

"Don't talk, I'm going to call Owen," she said. "I know basic first aid but..."

He shook his head. "It's not too bad. More worried about Jack."

"Where is he?"

"Taken," answered the Doctor.

"Yeah, I... uh, may have had something to do with that..." came a voice from behind them.

Gwen whirled around to find John Hart trying to dig his vortex manipulator off. "Ow, ow, ow..." Finally with a sickening ripping sound the contraption came off and John tossed it away where it exploded. He ran up to the stairs to join Gwen by the Doctor's side. "Sorry for taking so long, Doctor."

Gwen's brow furrowed. "Wait a minute..."

The Doctor shook his head and then moaned and gasped. "Gwen... he's not... our enemy."

"Yeah, sorry for the trouble," said John. "Don't have time to explain, but... long story short. Had to bury Jack alive but I made sure there was a way to track him, so we can find him."

He finished this part as Toshiko and Ianto came running in, their guns drawn. "Oh God, let me call Owen..." said Tosh as she saw the blood on the floor.

John and Ianto helped the Doctor to his feet and helped him down the stairs into Owen's medical lab. By the time they had helped him on to the exam bed the Doctor was visibly shaking and had broken into a clammy sweat. "How's your chest?" asked Ianto.

"Not what hurts, although the stress isn't helping," answered the Doctor. "The bullet is still in my arm."

"Oh shit," breathed John.

"What about Jack?" asked Ianto.

"We really should find him," answered John. "But..."

"Then go, I'm sure Tosh can take care of this," said the Doctor.

"Let us help you out and then we'll go," replied Gwen, as they eased him down.

The Doctor moaned all the way down and Gwen wiped his brow with a cool cloth. "This is really going to hurt," said John. "Is there anything we can give you?"

"Allergic to most things except morphine," answered the Doctor. "I'm sure there is other things I can take but I don't know which ones off the top of my head. Oh, don't give me anything made from the acetylsalicylic acid or salicylic acid. I'm highly allergic to it."

"It? It sounded like two different chemicals," said John.

"They're not," answered Tosh. "Well, they are and they aren't. One forms the other. Basically, don't give him aspirin or willow bark tea... or anything from that genus of plant."

"Exactly," confirmed the Doctor. "Causes a result... not unlike Reye's Syndrome... final stages and death... happen very quickly... oh, that's better, thank you."

Tosh had found the morphine and injected a dose into his leg using an auto-injector with preset dosages. The Doctor found he could breathe without pain being at the forefront of his mind. "That bullet needs to come out."

John poked at the wound carefully, cutting the layers of fabric away and cleaning it. The Doctor still twitched from the pain and Tosh asked, "Is it safe to give you another dose?"

"Yes, it doesn't affect me nearly as much as it... ow... would you," he answered. "One dulls it, but I'll still have my wits about me, two will almost kill the pain completely and start to affect me the same way one dose would affect a human."

"And three?" asked John.

"Not anymore than three in six hours in order to prevent an overdose – and it would likely knock me completely out," answered the Doctor, and then he eyed Tosh. "Not that I want to be out right now. You might need me. Just give me another regular dose."

Tosh injected him again and the Doctor let his head fall back into the pillows as the pain ebbed away. Given that he had also lost quite a bit of blood and he was in shock it didn't take long for everything else to fade away as well. He could still feel John poking at his arm and the sudden shock of pain as the bullet was pulled free of his arm, and then the sudden relief of the slug of molten metal being removed was enough to rob him of his senses completely in a dead faint.

"Did he just faint on us?" asked Gwen.

Ianto checked him over. "Yes, it would appear so."

"Jack is going to kill us," said Tosh, and John rolled his eyes.

John dropped the piece of metal into the tray and proceeded to clean up the wound using dissolving sutures to close the wound before dressing the wound. Ianto helped him settle the Doctor's arm on a pillow and pulled a blanket up over him. He turned the bright overhead lights off and they moved up into the other part of the hub to let the Doctor rest and recover. "Now we really should find Jack," pointed out John.

"Okay, how?" asked Ianto.

"I gave him a ring but the reality is that the ring is actually a tracking device that we can trace," answered John, and he handed a piece of paper to Tosh. "That's the frequency and the signature of the signal."

"Find it and find Jack," said Tosh as she started to tap away at the keys of her keyboard. "There he is!"

"Okay, Ianto and I are going with John to find Jack," said Gwen. "You stay here and keep in contact with Owen – he went to the nuclear plant to avert the meltdown – and also keep an eye on the Doctor while you're here."

"Okay," answered Tosh. "Good luck!"

The three of them left at a run and Tosh sat back down at the computer just in time for Owen's voice to come over the communications network. "Tosh? What's the situation?"

"Jack is missing and the Doctor was shot."

"Shit. Is he all right?" asked Owen.

"Yes, he needed surgery..." Tosh stopped speaking as a man came out of the cell area. "Who are you?"

"My name is Grey," he answered as he pointed a gun at her. "Away from the computer, now."

She moved away as she did so, but Owen's voice was still in her ear. "Play it cool Tosh. Find out what he wants."

"Where's the other one?"

"He needed emergency surgery," she answered. "He isn't here."

"You're alone then?" he asked, mockingly sweet. "Just you and Owen on over the phone? Too bad he won't be able to help you."

Grey lifted his gun, aimed at Tosh and squeezed the trigger. Tosh gasped, expecting to feel pain, but there was a sudden blur of motion to the side. She opened her eyes again to the strangest of things. The bullet had frozen in mid-air as if held there as if caught by an invisible hand. She looked up at Grey, who was similarly frozen. "Tosh, move aside, quickly," came the Doctor's strained voice, and Tosh did.

Time resumed and the bullet struck something behind her, rousing Myfanwy who woke with an unholy shriek and swooped down on Grey who shot at her wildly. The Doctor motioned to Tosh to follow him into the TARDIS where he shut the door and locked it behind them. Tosh leaned on the wall, trying to catch her breath. The Doctor slid down the wall bonelessly beside her. "Doctor, are you all right?" she asked in sudden concern.

He waved her off. "We have more pressing concerns. We have to help Owen. I can't pilot the TARDIS..." He pulled himself to his feet with a pained groan and made his way over to the console, and then held out a hand to Tosh. "Your bluetooth device so I can patch in to the network through the TARDIS."

Tosh took her bluetooth headset out of her ear and handed it to the Doctor, who then scanned it with his sonic screwdriver before handing it back and punching a few more buttons on the console. "... dammit, Tosh, answer me!"

"You can relax, Dr. Harper, Toshiko Sato is quite all right."

"Doctor! She told me you had been shot. Are you all right?"

"She's not incorrect, and I'm fine... a bit tired and a bit sore, and still a little bit foggy from morphine, but I'm all right," answered the Doctor. "More importantly – what is your status?"

"I'm in a nuclear power plant about to go critical and I have no idea what to do," answered Owen. "Any chance you can walk me through this?"

"Okay, there should be a status panel full of gauges," answered the Doctor.

"Found it."

"Tell me if anything is in the red."

"A lot of it is," answered Owen darkly. "This is bad, isn't it."

"Yes, very, unfortunately," answered the Doctor. "Jack locked the console out to flight so I wouldn't be able to take off... clever... no idea how he managed that but I'm grounded so I can't come help you. I'll have to walk you through this..."

"Through what, exactly?" asked Owen, sounding a bit nervous.

"I'll let you know as soon as I work that out myself," answered the Doctor, and then he gasped, grasping his arm and sitting down in the jumpseat heavily.

Tosh ran over to him and caught him before he fell, easing him down to the floor and using her jacket as a pillow. "Dizzy," murmured the Doctor.

"You just rest, I'll figure something out with Owen," said Tosh, smoothing the Time Lord's hair out of his face as his eyes fluttered shut. "Owen, we're going to have to do this without the Doctor. He just passed out again."

"Dammit, get me through this so I can get back there." Tosh chewed her lip, the only idea she had was not one she wanted to entertain. "Tosh..."

"Owen, the only idea I have will kill you."

"I'm already dead."

"I mean permanently – as in melt your body and dissolve it to nothing. There'll be nothing left."

* * *

><p>Owen stood in the control room of the nuclear plant, staring down at the ground. Dead. Permanently. He'd sigh but it he didn't actually have the breath to do so. He looked up again, suddenly angry.<p>

"Owen..." came Tosh's broken sounding voice.

"What the fuck do you want me to do? I either die or everyone in the city does. It's not as if I don't think I have something to live for – because believe me, I fucking well do," he shouted. "And why me? Why can't the Doctor come and get me. What the fuck is with my goddamn luck."

"Owen, please..."

"Why the fuck should I?"

"You're breaking my heart," said Tosh tearfully. "I wish there was another way."

"Fuck," exclaimed Owen, throwing a glass full of water at the door, but he finally calmed down. "Tosh."

"Yeah?"

"Don't cry, okay... Walk me through this, Tosh. Everyone has their time and we all know mine was borrowed from the very beginning."

He nodded, not like she could see him but he had come to a decision. His unlife was borrowed time. It wasn't meant to be like this at all. He should have been dead months ago. "Owen... "

"You're not hurt, are you?" he asked suddenly.

"No, the Doctor intervened at the last second. I thought I was when Grey pulled the trigger. He would have torn right through my lung with the shot he took," she answered truthfully.

"Good. Then at least he saved one of us. That's what is important. Just remember me as I was, okay?" he smiled sadly. "So, let's get this show on the road.

* * *

><p>Gwen, Ianto and John stood where the tracer had indicated Jack should have been and John felt that first little sliver of dread settle at the base of his spine. Instead of the green tract of land that had been there in 24AD was a massive complex of cement and steel. "How deeply did you bury Jack?" asked Gwen in horror.<p>

"Only six feet..." mused John. "They would have had to dig him up."

The other two looked at each other and Ianto stood up straighter as his eyes widened. "Dig him up?" he repeated. "Oh my God... oh my god!"

"What?" asked Gwen.

"Jack's already out... he's already at Torchwood. The frozen version of Jack in cryo... that's the Jack we're looking for," pointed out Ianto.

John made a frustrated groaning noise as they all ran back to the SUV, but he was secretly relieved. Seeing the complex had sent dread down his spine. All he could think was that Jack had millions of tons of concrete on top of him and no way to escape. Now, though, he could simply be woken up.

* * *

><p>Jack pulled himself from the really cold drawer with a gasp, still shivering as he stood up and closed it. "I really, really hate cryo stasis," he stated as he rubbed himself, even knowing the effort was futile and stopped as soon as he heard gunshots. "Right in the nick of time."<p>

He pulled on a pair of loose yoga style pants and ran up into the main part of the hub where he saw Grey take aim at Tosh and then pull the trigger. Jack ran forward with a mournful shout, but Tosh suddenly appeared two feet to the left of the bullet's path and the Doctor calling her to the TARDIS. Relief flooded Jack, but Grey was simply stunned.

The bullet ricocheted up and struck something, and Myfanwy swooped down with an angry shout on Grey, who responded by shooting at the already pissed off pterodactyl. Jack picked up one of John's abandoned machine guns. He couldn't believe he was going to do this but his brother had already proved just how far he was willing to go. "Grey!" shouted Jack.

Grey looked up, stunned into silence long enough by the sudden appearance of Jack for Myfanwy to get the upper hand. She knocked him sideways, forcing him to drop the gun into the water. With an angry shout, Grey ran at his older brother, grabbing another of John's abandoned guns and taking aim at Jack.

Jack dropped the gun and held his arms open. Grey stopped. "What the hell are you doing, Jack?"

"I'm not going to shoot you. I can't."

"Pick up the damn gun. I'd rather we settle this on equal footing, but if you won't I'll finish this somehow."

"How, Grey, how? I can't die," said Jack. "You know that now. How are you going to finish this if you can't kill me?"

"You have people now... don't you? People you care about? I'll take everything away from you the same way you took everything away from me. And I'll keep doing it," answered Grey.

Jack looked down. "Oh Grey, I'm so sorry."

"You think that fixes this? That it makes it all okay?"

"No," answered Jack. "But it can't make it worse."

The three that had left to find Jack came into the Hub, weapons ready, but not shooting. They knew it wasn't their place unless Grey did something to threaten them directly. But his attention was squarely on Jack. Grey turned and saw them as they moved around to the sides to flank him, but without aiming at him. They were making an effort to not be threatening, but at the same time if Grey did something they would be prepared.

Grey stared hard into Jack's eyes and then whirled, lifting the gun at Ianto.

Gun shots rang out and it was Grey's body that hit the ground. Jack lowered the gun, tears running down his face as he stepped forward and kicked the gun out of Grey's reach before kneeling down and holding his little brother in his arms.

"Oh, Grey, why?" asked Jack.

"You... bastard... you'd... pick... them..."

"Grey, I would have picked you... all of you... but why hate me so much that you would kill innocents just to get to me?" asked Jack.

There was no answer as Grey continued to gasp out his last breaths. "I forgive you," whispered Jack as Grey stopped breathing in his arms.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Five people sat around the table in Gwen's dining room, with a sixth comfortably reclined on her couch. Gwen and Rhys had brought out coffee for everyone, and a very milky and sweetened tea for the Doctor who sipped it from his place on the couch. "Tosh... are you all right?" asked Jack, looking over the table at the young computer technician.

She shrugged and looked back at him. "Only if you can say you are."

Jack sighed, his expression no where near his usual bright or happy expression. He stared out the window into the back garden behind Gwen and Rhys' home.

John Hart stood up and shook the Doctor's hand. "I think I should be going. Doctor, it was a pleasure to meet you and say that I had the honour of actually meeting a Time Lord."

"John Hart – if you give yourself half a chance you might surprise yourself," said the Doctor as he shook the other man's hand.

"Well, it's been..." He was about to say 'fun' but it didn't seem appropriate. "... yeah. See you around. Jack... if you ever need anything you know my frequency."

Jack raised a hand to wave to his former colleague right before the man disappeared in a flash of light, his vortex manipulator repaired. The Doctor looked over and up at Jack. "I am sorry for Owen and Grey," said the Doctor softly.

"Don't be," said Jack. "You saved Tosh. We all know she'd be dead too, if not for your intervention. It hurts like hell right now but... damn..."

The Doctor was quiet as he left the other man to his thoughts, looking over what remained of the team. Gwen, with her ability to remind her fellow team members of the humanity of those that surrounded them... or that aliens were people too. Toshiko Sato, whom he knew was meant to die yesterday but for some reason the TARDIS changed the future just enough to allow her to live. Ianto Jones, so quiet but yet brilliantly observant. And, of course, their leader Jack Harkness.

He wasn't supposed to be here, he knew. Time itself was warping and changing to match the new time line and he didn't know why. The changes were small, minor, and flexible.

Or perhaps they were meant to be this way and the TARDIS was changing them back.

The Doctor only knew one thing for certain, no matter who had gone...

...Something was still coming.

* * *

><p><em>OH MY GOD, sorry that took so long to finish.<em>

_And sorry that there's another installment before this little trilogy finishes. Obviously, Journey's End has to be different now too..._


End file.
